Board of Fish to take up Cook Inlet issues out of cycle

A task force designed to recommend adjustments to the to the Kenai River late run king salmon management plan is set to meet in November according to documents provided by the Board of Fisheries.

During a two-day work session in Anchorage, the Board of Fisheries considered several Cook Inlet-specific agenda change requests and ultimately decided to discard some and form a task force to address Kenai River king salmon.

Board members Vince Webster and Tom Kluberton will co-chair the task force which will also include eight other members.

Three members will be Upper Subdistrict setnetters, one driftnetter, two sport fishers, one sport guide and one personal use fisher, according to the task force’s mission statement.

The first meeting should happen in mid-November and the task force will develop its recommendations in time for the Board of Fisheries’ statewide finfish meeting in March according to the statement.

Not every ACR submitted to the board will be considered, some Cook Inlet requests failed including one modifying the central district drift gillnet fishery management plan, one asking that a date for management measures to be taken on the Kenai River be added to the management plan and one altering the area for Kenai River dipnetting.

Anyone interested in participating in the task force can email executive director Monica Wellard at monica.wellard@alaska.gov.

Molly Dischner of the Alaska Journal of Commerce contributed to this report.

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This is definitely a good thing--getting the different stake holders and user groups involved is positive. However, if all it becomes is a gripe session filled with finger pointing it does nothing. Hopefully some biology will be involved as well as some attention payed to the affect the trawl fishery(ies) bycatch is and has had on the depletion of runs. Fighting over the left overs they are so gracious to leave the rest of us is getting very stale.